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United States Patent | 6,112,115 |
Feldman ,   et al. | August 29, 2000 |
The present invention pertains to an apparatus for determining cardiac performance in a patient. The apparatus comprises a conductance catheter which can be excited with multiple frequencies for measuring instantaneous volume of a heart chamber. The apparatus comprises a mechanism for measuring instantaneous pressure of the heart chamber. The apparatus comprises a mechanism for processing the instantaneous volume and the pressure of the heart chamber to identify mechanical strength of the chamber and for automatically producing a plurality of desired waveforms at desired frequencies for the conductance catheter. The processing mechanism is connected to the pressure measuring mechanism and the volume measuring mechanism. The present invention pertains to a method for determining cardiac performance in a patient. The method comprises the steps of applying automatically multifrequencies to a conductance catheter. Then there is the step of measuring the instantaneous volume of a heart chamber of the patient. Next there is the step of measuring the instantaneous pressure of the heart chamber. Then there is the step of identifying mechanical strength of the chamber from the instantaneous volume and pressure.
Inventors: | Feldman; Marc D. (16650 Huebner Rd., Apt. 1728, San Antonio, TX 78248); Wu; Clarence (1137 Shady Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232); Mahler; Christine (1841 Dolphin Dr., Allison Park, PA 15101) |
Appl. No.: | 265092 |
Filed: | March 9, 1999 |
Current U.S. Class: | 600/513 |
Intern'l Class: | A61B 005/029 |
Field of Search: | 600/513,526,483,484,485 |
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